Meghan Markle has attempted to shut down bombshell reports that her staff are “terrified” of her, and that her husband Prince Harry enables her behaviour.
Meghan Markle has denied bombshell claims that her staff are “terrified” of her, that she “belittles people” and Harry enables her “terrible” behaviour.
The Hollywood Reporter published the claims in an article titled ‘Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan’ earlier this month.
The report followed the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ chief of staff Josh Kettler resigning from their charity Archewell in August after just three months, becoming Harry and Meghan’s 10th staffer to walk out since January.
The publication quoted a source saying the couple had high staff turnover because “everyone’s terrified of Meghan”.
“She belittles people, she doesn’t take advice. They’re both poor decision-makers, they change their minds frequently,” the source said.
“Harry is a very, very charming person — no airs at all — but he’s very much an enabler.
“And she’s just terrible.”
A source close to Harry and Meghan rejected the claims on Saturday, saying the allegations were “fabricated”.
“These quotes were fabricated by someone lacking knowledge of our company,” a source said according to the Daily Beast.
“They likely think we’re all in the same office and that this quote would fly, but the circumstances don’t even allow for it.
“If she’s ‘marching around’ and ‘barking orders’ no Archewell employee could factually claim that. It’s total nonsense.”
In the wake of the The Hollywood Reporter article, the Daily Mail reported that a senior Hollywood publicist found it “really striking” Harry and Meghan’s PR firm did not halt the claims from being published.
“Everyone, industry-wide, reads The Hollywood Reporter. It’s really striking that [Harry and Meghan’s public relations firm] WME did not stop this running,” the source told said.
“WME normally — you would think — would have been threatening and denying access to other stars. Was this done here?
“The only thing the Sussexes could rally with was ‘no comment at this time’ from a spokesman.”
The development follow reports Kettler and the Sussexes mutually agreed he was not the right fit for the role after a three-month trial.
“Hired on a trial basis, the decision to part ways was mutual, with both sides agreeing it wasn’t the right fit,” People Magazine reported.
In 2022, former Archewell president Mandana Dayani left suddenly and was never replaced.
Rebecca Sananes, producer of the Duchess’s Spotify podcast Archetypes, quit in December of the same year after 18 months in the role.
Manager Brett Levine was the next to hand in his resignation in January while head of marketing Fara Taylor and head of internal content Ben Browning left, too.
Meghan’s lawyers have always denied the allegations.